Sailor‘s curry real Captain’s style
January 1st, 2021 | main dishes
Based on the Asian rice table, but reduced to the conditions on board the merchant ships: a European version that has cult status among all German seafarers: the seaman’s curry. A colorful dish for the dark season.
The seaman’s curry plays a major role in our family history. How many times have I eaten it on board. How often have we prepared it at home… How often have we been invited to a great sailor’s curry on land?
Our children once said at the age of two and four: “Uuuuhhhh, Dad is cooking sailor feed again today…” – ten years later our son wanted a sailor’s curry for his confirmation, because “nobody else has that for his confirmation.” Of course, we cooked it for our 25 guests in two versions: one spicy and one very spicy – it made one or the other bead of sweat after all…
I like to use curry [attention: advertising!] from „Altes Gewürzamt“ [Old Spice Office], namely Curry Mumbai for the mild variant and Curry Goa for the very hot one.
The seaman’s curry is said to have been invented by the chefs of the Hamburg-Süd shipping company (where my dearest captain once learned the trade of ship mechanic). It was particularly widespread on the ships that were on the East-India line. This meal was mostly served on Thursday, which is traditionally known on board as “Sailor Sunday”. In earlier times, on Thursdays, bread rolls and cake were baked on cargo ships and a special lunch – sometimes also the sailor’s curry. It is still served today on festive, maritime occasions such as pilot meals or banquets.
For our family recipe, you can also use a soup chicken instead of a meat chicken, but the meat chicken has a higher meat content and tastes better. I deliberately do not give any quantities of the side dishes to the curry, as they can be varied individually in terms of composition and quantity. Depending on what can be found in the provision store.
Sailor's curry real Captain’s style
(4-6 servings)
The “real” sailor puts rice and chicken curry on his plate and heaps all the other ingredients on top, depending on his own taste. Then he mixes everything and enjoys the real “sailor’s meal”. 🙂
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